The Master said, "I can find no flaw in the character of Yu. He used himself coarse food and drink, but displayed the utmost filial piety towards the spirits. His ordinary garments were poor, but he displayed the utmost elegance in his sacrificial cap and apron. He lived in a low mean house, but expended all his strength on the ditches and water-channels. I can find nothing like a flaw in Yu."

21. THE PRAISE OF YU. 间, read Ke?en, up.3d tone, 'a crevice', 'a crack', 禹吾无间然矣, 'In Yu, I find no crevice so', i.e., I find nothing in him to which I can point as a flaw. 鬼神 is interpreted of the spirits of heaven and earth, as well as those sacrificed to in the ancestral temple, but the saying that the rich offerings were filial (孝) would seem to restrict the phrase to the latter. The 黻 was an apron made of leather, and coming down over the knees, and the 冕 was a sort of cap or crown, flat on the top, and projecting before and behind, with a long fringe on which gems and pearls were strung. They were both used in sacrificing. 沟洫, generally the water-channels by which the boundaries of the fields were determinded, and provision made for their irrigation, and to carry off the water of floods. The 沟 were 4 cubits wide and deep, and arranged so as to flow into the 洫, which where double the size.