The government has changed often, but the mass of the populace has sunk slowly into the stability of poverty and dependence.

The huge mass of Thibet sank deeply into its disturbed foundations, lunged West, and buckled Afghanistan into a range of peaks nearly forty thousand feet above the sea.

Both Legion and the Mater Mundi were gone, their overwhelming presence absent The great fleshy mass had sunk to the bottom of its tank.

The blue mass sank into itself, melting away like butter over a hot fire, and then hardened into a new shape.

The fuming black mass gradually sank down and buried itself in the gouges, leaving pools of hardened lava all over the landscape.

On the other hand, the great helpless mass of the population, the people of the abyss, was sinking into a brutish apathy of content with misery.

All around, the sea was dappled and roiled with the dark rain, and the mass of writhing scions sank with a chorus of bubbling gurgles.

It seemed as though the whole mass of fighting men had partially sunk into the ground.

Yet almost without attracting notice, inner motives dart about, and over time, the whole shimmering, blurry mass of sound sinks a few pitches.

I get the distinct impression the exploited masses are sinking into an even deeper apathy than usual.