def _np_cumsum(a, axis=None, dtype=None, out=None):
    """
    Return the cumulative sum of the elements along a given axis.

    Parameters
    ----------
    a : array_like
        Input array.
    axis : int, optional
        Axis along which the cumulative sum is computed. The default
        (None) is to compute the cumsum over the flattened array.
    dtype : dtype, optional
        Type of the returned array and of the accumulator in which the
        elements are summed.  If `dtype` is not specified, it defaults
        to the dtype of `a`, unless `a` has an integer dtype with a
        precision less than that of the default platform integer.  In
        that case, the default platform integer is used.
    out : ndarray, optional
        Alternative output array in which to place the result. It must
        have the same shape and buffer length as the expected output
        but the type will be cast if necessary. See `doc.ufuncs`
        (Section "Output arguments") for more details.

    Returns
    -------
    cumsum_along_axis : ndarray.
        A new array holding the result is returned unless `out` is
        specified, in which case a reference to `out` is returned. The
        result has the same size as `a`, and the same shape as `a` if
        `axis` is not None or `a` is a 1-d array.

    Examples
    --------
    >>> a = np.array([[1,2,3], [4,5,6]])
    >>> a
    array([[1, 2, 3],
           [4, 5, 6]])
    >>> np.cumsum(a)
    array([ 1,  3,  6, 10, 15, 21])
    >>> np.cumsum(a, dtype=float)     # specifies type of output value(s)
    array([  1.,   3.,   6.,  10.,  15.,  21.])
    >>> np.cumsum(a,axis=0)      # sum over rows for each of the 3 columns
    array([[1, 2, 3],
           [5, 7, 9]])
    >>> np.cumsum(a,axis=1)      # sum over columns for each of the 2 rows
    array([[ 1,  3,  6],
           [ 4,  9, 15]])
    """
    pass
